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My own personal “Throw Back Thursday” (#TBT) has never much involved posting a photo from way back when. I’ve been more of a throw back a cocktail on a Thursday afternoon kinda girl, in honor of afternoons spent working at a Madison Avenue advertising firm, where we did just that, though it wasn’t limited to Thursdays. My Mad Men boss kept a bottle of hooch in his desk drawer, and we’d tie one on before hitting the local watering hole to talk, magically, about anything other than work. People were allowed to light up in the office because Philip Morris was one of our clients.

I watch Mad Men, but my own personal theory is that Don Draper is a sociopath. As if the creator pitched the show, saying just that. “The main character is a functioning sociopath with a complete lack of conscience. With a demand for immediate gratification, defiance of authority, high self-confidence, and an extreme lack of empathy and close attachments, he’s excitement seeking, making him exciting to watch.” And a dick. Named Dick and Don and Dick. If you haven’t seen it, catch up on Netflix from Season 1. If you’ve tried and couldn’t get into it, try again, seeing it through this psychological filter. Is he a sociopath?

I loved those earlier days in my career, mostly that team atmosphere. But I love the even earlier look back at the me I wanted to be when I still lived at home with my parents and still dreamed of having this one single answer, a definition or vision, of who I wanted to be when I grew up. As if it were that easy. One answer. Just a costume at a store. Pick your future. I thankfully now know that it’s much healthier to wear your identity looser, that we aren’t our career.

Over Spring Break, Abigail and I broke into some of the old school offerings on Netflix, introducing her to Alex P. Keaton and The Beaver and to a world of country clubs who exclude their members based on race and religion, out in the open. It’s made for lots of honest discussions about bravery and honesty, about peer pressure, about making unpopular decisions. About choosing to be friends with someone, even when your friends make it clear that they don’t approve of your choice (adults send this message, though don’t do it outright). The messages are always the same: don’t limit yourself. Keep yourself open to possibilities, be authentic, be honest. To do this isn’t easy because true deep intimacy is formed through deep true confession, and vulnerability and trust aren’t composed of casual. You have to risk. Some of these Netflix offerings started the conversation… plus, I’m addicted to the theme song of Family Ties. Sha la la la.

We just introduced our son to The Land Before Time series. He enjoyed it even though it doesn’t have the clear crispness of today’s blu-ray on a hi-def tv. It took me right back to my childhood. Yep yep yep.

I would love to hang out with Jesse from Saved by the Bell. I think I was like her. Minus the running with the cool crowd in high school. And that Showgirls thing.

I don’t have children, so maybe I’m wrong on this one.. but isn’t Abigail a little too young (still) for Saved by the Bell and Family Ties? The story lines, jokes, etc. seem a bit mature for a little girl her age.

We laughed and laughed over the Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, the Walton’s, Little House on the Prairie and Facts of Life. My opinion is to expose kids to this kind of thing when they’re young and you’re RIGHT THERE – able to talk about it and comment on it and learn from it. If you keep your kids in a vacuum, when they are old enough to understand it, there’s no way they’re going to want your input.

I say, show it to them now – answer questions honestly and without drama – and they’ll be very well adjusted by the time they’re teens.

We just got Netflix to watch the last season of Gossip Girl. Used to be B’s favorite show. The beginning of the last season Cablevision was in a dispute with WPIX and it was black for the first four episodes or something. My mom used to manage the video store in my hometown so I have all the 80’s movies on VHS. Luckily I still have the VCR hooked up!